History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
VOLTAIRE. "'She never wrote one; they were by the wretched Crebillon'
[my beggarly old "Rival" in the Pompadour epoch]!...
VOLTAIRE. "'The Italians are a Nation of brokers. Italy is an
Old-Clothes shop; in which there are many Old Dresses of exquisite
taste.... But we are still to know, Whether the subjects of the Pope
or of the Grand Turk are the more abject.' [We have now gone to the
Drawing-room, I think, though it is not jotted.]
"He talked of England and of Shakspeare; and explained to Madame Denis
part of a Scene in Henry Fifth, where the King makes love to Queen
Catherine in bad French; and of another in which that Queen takes a
lesson in English from her Waiting-woman, and where there are several
very gross double-entendres"--but, I hope, did not long dwell on
these....
VOLTAIRE. "'When I see an Englishman subtle and fond of lawsuits, I say,
"There is a Norman, who came in with William the Conqueror." When I
see a man good-natured and polite, "That is one who came with the
Plantagenets;" a brutal character, "That is a Dane:"--for your Nation,
Monsieur, as well as your Language, is a medley of many others.'
"After dinner, passing through a little Parlor where there was a head of
Locke, another of the Countess of Coventry, and several more, he took
me by the arm and stopped me: 'Do you know this Bust [bust of Sir
Isaac Newton]? It is the greatest genius that ever existed: if all the
geniuses of the Universe were assembled, he should lead the band.'
"It was of Newton, and of his own Works, that M. de Voltaire always
spoke with the greatest warmth." [Sherlock, LETTERS (London, 1802), i.
98-106.] (EXIT Sherlock, to jot down the above, and thence into Infinite
Space.)
GENERAL OR FIELDMARSHAL CONWAY, DIRECT FROM THE LONDON CIRCLES, ATTENDS
ONE OF FRIEDRICH'S REVIEWS (August-September, 1774).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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